Projection exposure apparatuses for manufacturing semiconductor devices are required to be able to project and expose a circuit pattern on a reticle surface onto a wafer surface at higher resolving power as circuits are becoming micropatterned and have higher densities. Circuit projecting and resolving power depends on the numerical aperture (NA) and exposure wavelength of a projection optical system. Hence, to improve the resolving power, a method of increasing the NA of the projecting optical system or a method of shortening the exposure wavelength is employed. For the latter method, the exposure light source has changed from g-line to i-line and is changing from the i-line to an excimer laser now. For the excimer laser, exposure apparatuses that use an oscillation wavelength of 248 or 193 nm have already been put into practical use. Currently, a next-generation exposure apparatus with an oscillation wavelength of 157 nm has been examined.
As the micropatterning of circuits progresses, a reticle having a circuit pattern formed thereon and a wafer on which the circuit pattern is projected must be accurately aligned. The required accuracy is ⅓ the circuit line width. For example, in the current 180-nm design, the required accuracy is ⅓, i.e., 60 nm.
In addition, a variety of device structures have been proposed, and their production has been examined. As the use of personal computers and the like are widespread, the tractor of micropatterning has shifted from memories represented by DRAMs to CPU chips. Along with further growth in IT, development of devices for commutation systems called home wireless LANs or Bluetooth and MMICs (Millimeter-wave Monolithic Integrated Circuits) used in ITSs (Intelligent Transport Systems) represented by an automobile radar using a frequency of 77 GHz or LMDSs (Local Multipoint Distribution Services) using a frequency of 24 to 38 GHz would encourage further micropatterning.
There are also various semiconductor device manufacturing processes. As a planarizing technique for solving a shortage in depth of an exposure apparatus, the W-CMP (Tungsten Chemical Mechanical Polishing) process is already becoming a thing of the past technique. Currently, a Cu dual damascene process has received a great deal of attention.
Semiconductor devices also employ various structures and materials. For example, a P-HEMT (Pseudomorphic High Electron Mobility Transistor) formed by combining compounds such as GaAs and InP, M-HEMT (Metamorphic-HEMT), and HBT (Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor) using SiGe or SiGeC have been proposed.
In the current circumstances of the semiconductor industry, the number of parameters to be optimized in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus such as an exposure apparatus is enormous. In addition, these parameters are not independent but are closely related to each other.
Conventionally, a person in charge of apparatus introduction in each device manufacturer determines the parameters by trial and error. A very long time is required to determine optimum parameters. Even after parameter determination, if, e.g., a process error occurs, the manufacturing process may be changed in accordance with the error, and the parameters of the manufacturing apparatus may also have to be changed again. It is also time-consuming.
In production of semiconductor devices, time to be taken from the setup of a manufacturing apparatus to the start of mass production is limited. Time taken to determine parameters is also limited. From the viewpoint of COO (Cost Of Ownership) as well, the operation time of the manufacturing apparatus must be increased, and therefore, the parameters that are determined once must be quickly changed. In such a situation, it is very difficult to manufacture various semiconductor devices with optimum parameters. Even a manufacturing apparatus capable of obtaining high yield cannot obtain the expected yield because it is used without optimizing the parameters, resulting in an unnoticeable decrease in yield. Such a decrease in yield increases the manufacturing cost and decreases the delivery amount, and additionally, decreases the competitive power.
The parameters of a manufacturing apparatus can be quickly determined probably not by the user of the manufacturing apparatus but by a person in charge of manufacturing, sales, or maintenance of the manufacturing apparatus or a person in charge of services about the manufacturing apparatus (such a person will be referred to as a vendor hereinafter). This is because the vendor knows the characteristics of the manufacturing apparatus better and has information that is not public to the user. However, from the viewpoint of schedule adjustment and transmit time, it is not always the best to make the vendor actually visit the factory where the manufacturing apparatus is installed.
For a successful semiconductor business, it is very important to solve any trouble in manufacturing apparatus. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-15520 has proposed an epoch-making system that quickly solves any trouble in industrial machine such as a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus from a remote site. In this system, a monitoring apparatus for monitoring the operation state of an industrial machine and a management apparatus on a vendor side are connected through a data communication network such as the Internet, thereby maintaining the industrial machine while exchanging information related to the maintenance of the industrial machine therebetween.